'A dump for seed corn companies' -- Mead residents worry what comes next for troubled ethanol plant

A year after state regulators ordered AltEn Ethanol to stop selling its pesticide-contaminated soil conditioner to local farmers, the Mead ethanol plant remained the final destination for millions of pounds of treated seed in North America.

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture issued a “Stop-Use and Stop-Sale Order” on AltEn’s soil conditioner in May 2019 after tests determined it was laced with concentrations of pesticides that far exceeded rates deemed safe by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Soon after, based on those findings, the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy said the soil conditioner could no longer be applied to farm ground and was considered a solid waste, requiring its disposal at a permitted landfill.

That didn't stop AltEn from continuing to solicit for more discarded corn, which it used in its ethanol production, later touting itself as the industry’s “(No.) 1 choice for recycling treated and regulated seeds.”

Read more:: https://journalstar.com/news/local/a-dump-for-seed-corn-companies-mead-residents-worry-what-comes-next-for-troubled-ethanol/article_876710c5-52ab-5287-94f3-10c9fbb9c566.html
(Lincoln Journal Star)